Machine for making one-piece window envelopes



Aug. 16, 1927.

G. W. swlFT, JR

MACHINE FoR.MAK1NG @NE-PIECE wINDow ENvELoPEs 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 14, 1925 INVENTOR 650/762 Il. LS'fr//fr JI?.

WITNESS EYS ATT

Aug'. 16, 1927.

G. w. SWIFT, JR

MACHINE FOR MAKING ONE-PIECE WINDOW ENVELOPES Filed Dec, 14, 1925 8 Sheets-Sheet` 2 wnTNEss Aug. 16,1927.

1,639,010 y G. W. SWIFT, JR

MACHINE FOR'MAKING ONE-PIECE WINDOW ENVELOPES Filed De,14, 1925 s sheets-sheet 3 67 v INVE`NTOR l l l BY (Q Aug. 1e, 1927. 1,639,010

G. W. SWIFT, JR

MACHINE FOR .MAKING ONE-PIECE WINDOW ENVELOPES Filed Deo.14, 1925 8 sheets-sheet 4 INVENTOR 1,639,010 G. w. swlF-r, JR

MACHINE FOR MAKING ONE-PIECE WINDOW EVELOPES Filedl Deo.1.4, 1925 8 sheen-Sheet 5 0a, nDl.. G .w kww fo 0 a/ w. c ,0/0 w 0 Z.. .Z @wf m Hmm 4 Q lli- W, lo 5 a l 0// 0 @A 7 3 Mw WMM w., 0/ W w 5 7 w/ M6 5. ,w wU/w M l Aug. 16,1927.

Aug. 16, 1927@ I G. W. SWIFT, JR

MACHINE FOR MAKING-ONE-PIECE WINDOW ENVELOPES Filed Dec, 14, 1925 s vSheets-Sheet l8 Hill! lllilll T E Y Patented Aug. 16, 1927. y

UNITED STATES y 1,639,010 .PAT-ENT OFFICE..

GEORGE W. SWIFT, JR., F BORDENTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING ONE-PIECE WINDOW IENVIEILOPIEJS.v

Application led December 14, 1925. Serial No. 75,317.

The present invention relates vto a ma-` window, by applying a coating ot a suita-y ble varnish or 'lacquer' in the vzone in which the window is to appear. This type of window 'envelope `is known as a one-piece in window envelope to distinguish it trom the two-piece Ytorni of window envelope in which a patch ot transparent paper is pasted over a'cut-out opening in the material of the envelope. y

Heretotore the one-piece window envelope has been produced either by imprinting and curing transparentizing coatings of lacquer or varnish upon envelope blanks, or sheets from which blanks are to be out, and afterw wards making up .the envelopes in the 'orldinary way; or by taking made-up envelopes and imprinting and curing the transparentrizing coatings upon the previously finished envelopes.

The present invention is an advance in the art ot making single piece window envelopes resulting in a greater economy and a more uniform and superior product. The drying and curing oven is utilized to simultaneous- H" ly dry the envelope adhesive and the imprints ot transparentizing material. This is a feature of great importance and economy of cost and time over all methods heretofore employed in which the imprints of transparent'zing material have invariably been dried and cured independently ot the drying of the completed envelopes.

The present invention consists ot a. ma-

chine tor making single piece window enlvelopes by a continuous process irom a roll ot lenvelope materia-l which is passed through continuously operating mechanisms for imprinting the coating ot transparentizing varnish or sliellac, cutting out and pasting the scamsof the successive blanks, folding and completing successive envelopes including the application of paste to the sealing flap and finally passing the 'completed en-- velopes to a drying chain which runs through a curing oven from which completed cured one-piece window envelopes are delivered.

lIn acl-dition to this main feature of a conmachine ,tor successively performin 'the production et this type also includes certain specific features of construction of some of the mechanisms Vt'or yfacilitating the desired result` In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one form of a` machine -embodying my invention for continuously manufacturing one-piece window envelopes.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal vsectional view of the front portion of the improved envelope machine;

Figure la is a similar view of the rear portion of the machine;

Figures l and la taken together show a complete vertical longitudinal sectional view 4of the machine;

Figure 2 is a. vertical transverse sectional view ot the mechanism for imprinting patches of varnish or other transparentizing material upon the running web Vof envelope material;

Figure 3 is a plan View of the same;

Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same.;

Figures 5, v6 and 7 are detail views illustrating parts Vof the same mechanism;

Figure 8 is a side elevation partly in section of the envelope forming mechanism and part ot' the endless drying chain;

Figure 8a is -a detail sectional view taken on line .8a-8a of Figure 8,;

Figure 9 is a plan view of the same mechanism as shown in Figure 8;

VFigure 10 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same mechanism as shown in Figure 8;

Figure 1l is an enlarged detail vertical longitudinal sectional view showing the mechanism for transferring envelopes from the forming mechanism to the drying chain;

Figure 12 is a front view of the same mechanism.

The improved machine operates upon a continuous roll o r web ofpaper which passes the continuously operating mechanisms for performing the successive steps in producing one-piece envelopes from a continuous web.

1 is a. roll of a continuous web of envelope material journalled at 9. upon 'the side trames/3 which are mounted upon suitable legs or supportsv indicated at 4. The web l passes through suitable feed rolls 5 then "und a take up roll 6 through the tente' L rollers 7 and around that' fpr .la er rollers'- tl, 9; "Between the llera 8 and 9 the edges of the web are folded longitudinally and creased in passing around the roller 9.

The web passes up from roller 9 through the male and female side seam cutters indicated. at 10, 11 and from there under the adjustable comliensating rolls 12 and over the lower guide roller 13.

The web with side flaps formed then passes through a series of printing rolls indicated at 15, 16 and 17 which are arranged to print in three different colors if desired.

2O is a receptacle containing adhesive gum in which rotates the distributing roller 21 which intermittentlyv contacts with the cut-away gum roller 22, cooperating with the guide roller 23 for applying strips of gum to the under surface of the successive side flaps formed in the web. The gum receptacle 2O is adjustably supported upon the rollers 25 having flattened faces which permit the gum receptacle to be lowered away from the gununing die.

From the side seam gun'iming device the web passes around the guide rollers 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 to present the reverse or upper face of the web to the action of the rotating` pad or die which applies the imprint or coating of transparentizing material in a manner which will now be explained.

35 is a bozrlilre reservoir supported at one end upon the transverse rail 36 and at its opposite end upon the adjustable rollers 37 having cut-away faces 38 and mounted upon a` transverse adjusting shaft 39 which is jou-rnalled in the side frames 3 and is provided on one end with an operating handle 40. A slotted arm 41 is adapted to move into and out of engagement with a threaded bolt 42 passing outwardly through one of the side frames 3 and receiving an extended nut 43 by which the arm 41 can be clamped against the side frame for holding the shaft 39 and rollers 37 in position to support the reservior 35 in its normal operative position.

f This securing arm 41 and its screw clamp ntl are of the same construction as that hereininafter described in connection with the seal` ing flap gumming device shown in Figure 8 of the drawings. The supporting rollers 39 have secured to their outer faces hooks 45 arranged to engage lateral pins or lugs 46 projecting from the side faces of the reservoir 35 for securely holding the reservoir in its raised operative position.

A distributing roller 50 journalled in the side frames of reservoir 35 and operates partly immersed in the composition varnish or shellac indicated at 51 which is employed for forming transparent windows in the envelope material. The shaft of roller 50 projects through stufiing boxes indicated at 52.

A cover plate 55 mounted upon the reservoir 35 carries upwardly projecting brackets 56 in which are mounted journal bearings 57 supporting the shaft 58 of a die roller 59. The cover plate 55 has an opening' to permit the periphery of distributing Vroller 50 to project into the path of the die carried by roller 59. 60 is a plate extending across the cover plate 55 and carrying within the reservoir 35 a scraper blade 61 which operates in peripheral engagement with distributing roller 50. This plate 60 carries swivelled threaded nuts projecting beneath its ends in which 'engage the adjusting screw rods 66 rotatably mounted in the bracket arms 67 secured to the end of the reservoir 35. By turning the screw rods 6G the relation of scraper blade 6l to the rollerI 50 can be adjusted to suitthe requirements.

The die roller 59 has removably mounted upon it a relatively soft gelatine or rubber pad 70 of the size and shape of the desired window in the envelope. Mounted upon the cover 55 at 75 is a spring blade 76 carrying at its upper end a scraper bar 77 Awhich is supported in the path of the rotating pad 7 O. The guide roller 59 carries adj acentits ends the cams 8O which are adapted to engage the ends of the scraper bar 77 and determine the moment of engagement of the scraper with the pad 70. In the first engagement of cams 80 with bar 77 the scraper bar will be held out of contact with the leading edge of the pad 70, the cam faces gradually lowering so that the scraper will come in contact with the rear portion. of the pad to remove the surplus of material from the pad.

It will be observed that the die roller 59 just described operates vertically between the guide roller 34 above referred to and the distributing roller 50 for the purpose of taking a film of transparentizing material from roller 59 and .imprinting it upon the ruiming webof envelope material passing around the roller 34. Since the leading edge of the pad 70 is not engaged by the scraper bar 77 itwill be understood that the first contact with the running webwill be with a Film of the varnish which will be squeezed out upon the web and be equalized over the surface of the rear portion of the pad which is closely scraped by the engagement of the bar 77. T his arrangement has proven effective in avoiding the application of an objectionable quantity of the transparentizing varnish upon the web of envelope material.V

It will be understood that when it is desired to throw out of action the die mechanism for imprinting t-ransparentizing material upon the web, the rollers 37 are turned to presentt-heir flat faces towards the bottoni of the reservoir 35, which will lower the reservoir and the die roller into inoperative position. It will be observed that the distributing roller 50 and die roller 59 are rotated by gearing` driven from the shaft of roller 34, the die roller 59 rotating in unison with the roller 34.

lli

From the guide roller 34 the web 1 having received the impression of transparentizingl varnish passes to the envelope forming and completing machine or mechanism which may be of any suitable construction and inthe drawings is shown of a general form illustrated in Patent No. 1,275,788, granted to me August 13, 1918. It will, however, be understood that this patent illustrates the other form of window envelope machine and that the envelope forming mechanism alone similar to the structure embodied in the present application. leb 1 passes between feed rollers 90 which are 'so shaped as to avoid Contact with the gummed Vand varnished parts of lthe web; thence between the shearing guides 91 whereby the web is sub-divided into separate envelope blanks; and thence to the feedl rollers 92 having co-actingfeed segments and on one of said rollers the guide-wires 92". From the feed rollers 92 the separated blanks pass to the control of the creaser 'and 4carrier roll 95 formed with Va. series 4of transverse notches in which are mounted gripper plates 96, 97. A rotary folder 98 cooperates with the carrier roll to fold the successive blanks along lineswhi'ch form the bottom of the envelopes. As each blank is creased its bottom fold between members 95..and 981 the leading edge ofthe back portion of the envelope blank is projected beyond a fixed knife bar 110 with which cooperates a rotary knife blade 111 mounted .on shaft 112.

The knives and 111 clip o' the lower corners or tails of the blank. The bottom folded blanks are then carried through r.the side seam folders indicated at 99 to the folding roll 100 which creases the sealing Hap. The folding roller 100 carries a gumming die. 115 vfor applying gum to thek sealing flap ofthe envelope as it passes. This gumming die periodically contacts with .a gumrdistributing roller 116 immersed in a. suitable adhesive indicated at 117 contained'in the reservoir 118. The reservoir 118 is adju-stably supported upon the rollers 119 having cut-away faces 120 mounted upon a vmanually adjustable shaft 121. This shaft 121 carries a slotted arm 122 engaged by an adjusting-nut 123 for clamping the shaft and gupporting rollers in operative position. These rollers 119 carry hooks y1211 which engage pins 125 upon the gum box 118. A roller operates in peripheral engagement with distributing roller 116 for determining the quantity of an adhesive carried upon the surface of the material to the flap lgumming die. This roller,130 is adjustably hung from the cover y137 ofthe gum box and is adjustable `toward 'and 'away from the distributing roller 116 by manually operating threaded rods 135. Y K

The complete envelopes 'then move past .the lower wire guides 105 vand yiipp'er'wire guides 106 to the two sets of delivery rollers 108, 108e, 109, 1095*, which are spaced to avoid interference with the exposed patches of varnish and the gum surface of the sealing flap. The lower nai-row faced 'wheels or rollers 108 are journalled upon trunnions and fare connected b'y a curved segmental plate or platen m which rotates therewith and serves to support an envelope as it passes between rolls 108 and 108% The upper narrow faced wheels or rolls 108@ are mounted upon a shaft extending between them and each of the rollers '108a is formed with al segmental cutout y which provides leading gage face 'a with which the bottom edge of the envelope engages and registers to ensure the straightening of the envelope as it passes forward to ldelivery rollers 109,. 1091, V'and timing the delivery of envelopes to the drying chain. is brought into action while the envelope is thus being registered under the cutout p0rt'ions 7/ of the upper rolls 108` These final rollers pass the completed envelopes into a drying chain of grippers which carry `them througha curing oven, the final delivery of envelopes to said chain being through ythe lmechanisms which will now be described.

It is necessary in feeding the completed varnished envelopes tothe grippers of the drying chain to avoid contacting between the :projecting lgummed sealing flaps of the 'envelopes andthe imprint-s of transparentizing varnish. This has been successfully accomplished by providing devices for supporting the flap of each envelope in the chain out of Ethe path of each succeeding envelope that is 'fed to the chainv and also to cause the ends of they sealing flap rto be tucked into and gripped by the grippers.

I prefer tto employ an endless chain of 4envelope carrying grip'pers similar in construction 'and operation to that shown in Patent No.l 864,493, A,(ififa'ntcd to me August 27. 1907. This endless drying -chainof grippers isrcpresen-ted in the `drawing by the num-eral which passes around and is supported by a Series of large carrying sprocket wheels 151. 152` 153. 154, 155. 156 andthe smallerfsprocket wheels 157.r 158, 159. 160, 161. These sprocket `wheels are suitably mounted in bracket supports of any suitable construction which it will not be The curved supporting plate v necessary fto describein detail. The grippei's Y tegral "bar 168. The upper movable pair of grippers 167 lis pivotally mounted upon the lower pair of 'gripper arms 165 by means of the pivotrods 169 which pass through the overlapping ears 166;L and .16811; said rods 169 connecting the grippers into an endless chain and the projecting ends of the rods 169 travelling in the guideway of track bars 170. The movable gripper bar 168 has formed integral with one of its lugs 1683- a tappet finger 171 which is brought into contact with fixed cam 172 in the endless chain trackwav for opening each pair of grippers as it reaches position to receive an envelope Jrom the delivery rollers. A spring` 175 surrounds each pivot rod 169 and ene-ages at its opposite ends the fixed and movaole gripper bars 166 and 168 for yieldinn'ly retaining;v the grippers in closed position. T he' movable grippers have downwardly presented registerinir lingers 167a to limit the movement of envelop-es into the open grippers.

Referring to Figure 8 it will be observed that the gripper lingers 165 and 167 are preferably formed with complementary concave and convex engaging" faces; that is the face of one finger will be concave while the face of the cooperating finger will be convex so as to give a more reliable grip upon the ends of the envelope.

In addition to the wire lguides 105 and 106 above referred to. l provide a series of wires 180, 181 adjustably mounted in a cross bar 182 and formed at their lower ends with upwardly and rearwardly bent luide portions approximately parallel with and above the path of travel of envelopes from folding' roller 100 to delivery rollers 108. The central wire 1.81 carries an inclined guide-'plate 185 supported centrally over the path of envelopes.

As each gripper of the drying chain reaches a horizontal position in the plane of delivery of rollers 109.y 109, the gripper is opened by cam 172 and the envelope is delivercd therein with the Qummed sealingr flap projecting downwardly therefrom as shown clearly in Fiaures 10 and 11 of the drawings. The gripper still in open position moves upwardly to place the succeed-l ing` `ripper in open envelope receivingl position and to avoid the projecting' flap of the first envelope mentioned, dragging over the still moist imprint of varnish on the face of the next envelope. said preceding flap is engaged. pushed into the open gripper. and raised up out of the path of said next envelope. This important operation is accomplished by a blad-e 190 formed on the lower end of rod or wire 191 which is adjustably mounted in a rock shaft 192 and projects downwardly and inwardly to the central longitudinal plane of the machine. The rock shaft 192 is suitably journalled in bracket arms 193 and carries on one end a rock arm 194 connected with pitman 195 which is in turn connected bv crank pin 196 with the shaft of the folding roller 100. This arrangement provides for an inward wmremer... the blade for enve- "`the bite of the gripper jaws.

lope immediately after itl has been placed 1n an open gripper.

ln addition to the described action upon the sealing flap I provide rocking blades which are arranged to engage the sealing lflap adjacent to its ends to tuck them into This device vcomprises the two blades 200 projecting from a roel; shaft 201 journalled in brackets 202 to points iust above the delivery7 rollers. 109% These blades 200 will therefore be presented in the saine vertical planes as the gripper jaws. The upper movable gripper jaws 167 are formed slightly longer than the lower fixed jaws so that upon the arrival of a pair of closed ,qrippers with an envelope above delivery rollers 109B', the blades 200 are moved upwardly by rocking shaft 201 with the result that the ends of the sealing flap will be engaged directly beneath the projecting ends of the upper grippers 167 and pressed upwardly against the envelope `ends supported against said upper grippers, the upper grippers beiner thereby raised against the action of their spring so that l'upon the return movement of blades 200 the ends of the scalino iap will be found to be cnga'eed with the envelope ends by the gripper jaws. This operation 1s clearly illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 of the drawings;

The rock shaft 201 carries at one end a rock arm 205 connected at its end with a pitman 206 having at its ends a guide yoke 207 which guides upon the projecting); shaft of one of the rollers 91 above referred to. This roller carries upon its shaft a cam 208 which acts upon anti-friction roller 209 journalled upon pitman 206. kA spring 210 ext-ends between the pivot connection of members 205, 206 and a stationary point 211 to hold the blades 200 in normal retracted positionand cause the pitman 206 to follow the actuatingr cam 208.

The drying chain is arranged to move in a zigzag path upwardly and downwardly through a drying and curing oven of which the hood or top portion is made up of suitable side walls 215. top wall 216 and the downwardly projecting end walls 217. The

lower portion of the oven has the bottom vwall 218, the shaped end wall 219 which is offset from end wall 217 to permit the passage of the drvina chain at the entry 'side of the oven and the short end wall 220 with horizontal extension 221 arranged sufciently below the guide rollers orsprockets 156 to permit the passage of the chain and envelopes adjacent the delivery end of the machine.

The oven may be heated by any suitable meansv such for instance as shown in which one or more perforated `gras burner pipes 225 are mounted in the bottom of the oven. To properly temper the heat to effect the desired and curing of the v curing and drying oven, an endless chain of envelope grippers operating in said oven, means .for transferring envelopes from said forming mechanism to said grippers, and means for removing dried and cured envelopes Afrom said grippers.

8. In a machine for making one-piece Window envelopes, the combination-of means for continuously advancing a web of envelope material, means for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon the running web, and rotary mechanisms for sub-dividing said Web into envelope blanks, applying adhesive to the blank flaps, and folding the blanks into envelopes, With a curing and drying oven, an envelope conveyor operating in said oven, means for transferring env-elopesfrom said forming mechanism to said conveyor, and means for removing dried andcured envelopes from said conveyor.

'9. In a machine for making one-piecevvindow envelopes, the combination of continuouslyvoperating associated mechanisms for advancing a Web of envelope material, imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon said running Web, applying adhesive to parts of said running Web, cutting said running Web into envelope blanks, and forming said blanks into completed envelopes, With a drying and curing oven having means for conveying completed envelopes therethrough for simultaneously curing the imprints of transparentizing material and drying the adhesive.

10. In a machine for making one-piece window envelopes, the combination of means for continuously advancing a web of envelope material, means for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon` the ruiming Web, means for sub-dividing said web into envelope blanks, mechanism for forming said blanks into envelopes, a curing and drying oven, aVv travelling chain of envelope grippers operating vin said oven and arranged to receive, envelopes from said forming mechanism, meansfor periodicallysupportinglthe projecting sealing liap of an envelope in said grippers to hold itk out of contact with the neXt envelope passing to the grippers.

V1l. In: a machine forimaking one-piece Window7 envelopes,.the combination of means for continuously advancing a Web of envelope material, means for imprinting spaced patches of transpa-rentizing material upon` the running web, a drying and curing oven, a travelling chain of envelope grippers operating in said oven, mechanisms for applying adhesive to said running web, subdividing said running Weby into envelope blanks, forming envelopes from said blanks andY delivering completed envelopes to said grippers, and means for supporting the projecting sealing flap of an envelope in said chain as afsucceeding envelopeis passed thereunder to the grippers.

l2. In av machine for making one-piece Window envelopes, the combination of means for continuously advancing a Web of eni velope material, means for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon ing said. web into envelope blanks, applying adhesive to the blank flaps, and formingA the Vblanks into envelopes, a curing and drying 1 oven, a travelling chain of envelope grip-A ners o eratino' in said oven and arranged to the running Web, mechanism for sub-dividreceive envelopes from said forming mechf anism, and intermittently operating fingers movable toward and away from-said chain of grippers and adapted to periodically sup-` aort the iro'ectino` scalino' fla ofi-an en- I ZD C vvelope to hold it out of contact with al` subsequent envelope passing into the grippers.A Y,

13. In a machine for making one-piece Window envelopes, the combination of means for continuously advancing a Web `of envelope material, means for imprinting spaced patches-of transparentizing material upon the running YWebmeans for subdividing said web into envelope blanks, mechanism for forming said blanks into envelopes, a curing and drying oven, a travelling chain of envelope grippers operating in vsaid oven and arranged to receive envelopes from said forming mechanism, and means for raising the outer corners of envelopes in the grippers and tucking the ends of the sealing flap into the bite of the grippers.

la. In a machine for makingone-piece Window envelopes, the combination of means i for continuously advancinga web ofenvelope material, fmeans for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon the running Web, means for subdividing said Web into envelope blanks, mechanism for forming said blanks into envelopes, Y'

a curing and drying oven, a travelling chain of envelope grippers operating in said oven and arranged to receive envelopes from saidY forming mechanism, and intermittently operated fingers movable-toward and away lfrom the chainof grippers and vadapted to tuck the ends of the sealing I aps into the bite of the grippers.

l5. In a machine for making one-piece- Window envelopes, the combination of means for continuously advancing a web ofl envelope materiakmeans for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material' upon the running Web,means for subdividing said Web into envelope blanks, mechanism forV of an envelope to hold it out of contactV with lli? a. subsequent envelope passing into the grippers, and means for raising the outer corners of envelopes in the grippers and tucking the ends of the sealing flap into the bite of the grippers.

16. In a machine for making one-piece window envelopes, the combination with a drying and curing oven having an envelope conveyor passing through it, means for heating said oven, and means for injecting tempering steam into said oven, of means for delivering to said oven conveyor envelopes having Window forming imprints of transparentizing material.

17. In a machine for making onenpiece Window envelopes, the combination of means for advancing a Web of envelope material,

means for imprinting spaced patches of transparentizing material upon the web, means for forming envelopes from said web, an envelope conveyor, means for deliveringl envelopes from the forming mechanism to said conveyor, a drying and curing oven enclosing said conveyor, means for heating said oven, and means for injecting steam into said oven.

18. In a machine for making envelopes, the combination with a drying and curing oven having an envelope conveyor passing through it, means for heating said oven, and means for injecting tempering steam into said oven, of means for delivering envelopes to said oven conveyor.

GEORGE W. SVIFT, JR. 

